Category Winner
More to Lose with Total Workout
Christina W.
Combo
I had suffered with back pain as far back as the early 1980s when I was in 4 car accidents in 5 years. I had been to back school, physical therapy, and chiropractors over the years. I am a SAHM and a homeschooler. I have 3 children 8 and under, all cesarean births and neither cesarean births nor carrying children really help improve back pain. During the past year I had been going to my chiropractor weekly because the pain was worse and I considered going more. My chiropractor is also a yoga instructor and owns a yoga center but I felt I could not commit to a class because of time, money and childcare challenges. I have been Plus sized for years with More to Lose. For a few years nearly two decades ago I lost a lot of weight via a severe diet of 2 shakes a day plus one meal but I did not keep it off and had some other health problems afterwards. When I was a child I was diagnosed with chronic knee problems to the point where I was excused from gym for two or three years in high school and I quit the marching band because of it. Being less active was probably the last thing I needed. I also had allergy-induced asthma for years, probably since I was about 10 or even earlier. I had it generally under control with conventional medications but I wanted to get off medications. I switched to a classical homeopathic consultant a year ago and most times it is under control but there are times when I would get out of breath walking up a flight or two of stairs. This is not always asthma, but an indication that I was way out of shape.
It was early Spring 2007 when I realized something had to change but not until I had a scare. The bloodmobile was at my church one Sunday morning and I decided to give blood even though I had not signed up in advance. I was surprised that I was not allowed to give blood, because I had an irregular heartbeat unbeknownst to me. This was such a scare. I started panicking and thought I was going to end up finding out I had severe heart disease, that I would die soon and that my three children would have to grow up without me and I wasn't quite 42 yet! I went to my doctor that week and he said it was most likely not life threatening but that the extra strong beat every fourth beat on the extended EKG was related to stress, so an echo cardiogram and stress test were scheduled. During the stress test my extra strong beat went away with exercise and came back when I was done so I knew that I better start exercising. I also knew that exercising was the only way to get rid of excess weight and to help prevent me from a whole host of problems my excess weight and excess eating had caused including diabetes. I waited for the results of the echocardiogram and got the clearance to start exercising.
I was trying to figure out what I could do since one of my children has severe food allergies so I cannot just leave him with anyone and my husband travels out of the country about every month for a week or two so I can't count on him to be available to take care of our children when I want to go to a gym. I hadn't really worked out since I did prenatal yoga while pregnant with my youngest who is now 3 and a half. Prior to that I had done various forms of aerobics classes, had various gym memberships with various classes plus equipment workouts, swimming, synchronized swimming in college, and even water aerobics, all of which would now require childcare for 3 children which is rather costly if even available in addition to the cost of the classes and the risk of food allergies.
What type of exercise should I do? I started looking on one of the online forums I belong to called Sonlight-forums.com which is for homeschoolers like me who use the Sonlight curriculum and there was a weekly thread about T-Tapp in the Accountability section. What in the world was T-Tapp? I read the threads and got intrigued enough to try it and watched Teresa's sitting video on Amazon.com so I mentioned it to my friend. She happened to have purchased the BWO+ DVD a year ago but she never tried it so I borrowed hers on May 6, 2007. I put on my socks and shoes and pressed play and started Instructional 1 every day for two weeks with one day off. It wasn't easy but I liked it so much I decided to order The Total Workout by the end of that first week. I started BWO+ and Instructional 2 on May 21 and ended up doing a 14-day Boot Camp with BWO+ and Instructional 2 for 11 days and then TWO for the last 3 days. I took off for two days and have been doing TWO with OIP/HF every other day since June 6. During that first week, about May 9th, I found out about the contest and decided to sign up so I did! Here I am 60+ days later writing about my experience.
Wow have things changed in 60 Days.
My chiropractor thought something was wrong since I only saw her once in the past 60 days. On June 14th I slipped down several stairs on one of my children's Magic Tree House books - "High Tide in Hawaii"! It seems like both ankles hit nearly every step from midway downstairs plus my back and my right arm hit several steps. I was in a lot of pain. I did have to run around with my children that day and I started limping. I took a homeopathic remedy called Arnica and decided that working out that night would be better than not, especially for my back. Did I want to work out? Not at all. So, even in some pain, I put on my socks and shoes and pressed play. I was only going to do BWO+ and almost switched to that DVD but decided I could stop whenever I had to so I put in TWO. I just kept going and the longer I worked out the better my back felt. I remember reading about Teresa in her book figuring out that rest did not help her when she was in pain, these exercises did and she was right! I did finally go to the chiropractor the following Monday but I'm not sure I needed to go that day. I haven't needed to go since either. T-Tapp has really helped improve my back pain significantly! The other thing that has improved significantly is my breathing. My husband was away the first week of July and I had our pastured meat co-op the next day where I carried several coolers full of frozen meat and that night I had no problem pulling our wagon with our children about 8-10 blocks each way to go see fireworks with our friends. Normally my arms would've hurt too much to pull the wagon and I would've been out of breath before even making it to the fireworks but I was not tired, I was energized and I knew it was because of T-Tapping.
The biggest challenge I have had is with my attitude. Committing to the 60 Day challenge was great for me since I decided it didn't matter how I felt, I would just put on my socks and shoes and press play, even when I didn't want to. There were lots of days when I didn't want to. I have had several days when I just didn't think I could fit in a workout since I was booked solid from morning to nighttime but I fit it in. Other days when I didn't have enough sleep, days when I was watching my friend's children from morning to night. We've had tons of activities - my husband was out of the country for 3 weeks but every day that I planned to, I T-Tapped! One thing I learned is that I cannot let my thoughts or feelings control my actions. I need to have faith that T-Tapping will give me the results I want and not skip a workout because I don't feel like it. I have to have goals bigger than how I feel today to keep me going. Teresa has made working out so easy since it is convenient - I don't have to find childcare and I don't have to go anywhere and I just keep a four foot long and wide space in my bedroom clear to workout. T-Tapping is inexpensive - in the long term compared to a gym or other classes, T-Tapping is private - no one is watching me and T-Tapping is low impact - no back or knee pain with proper form. Even my children have gotten into it and have tried it with me on several occasions.
Why should I win? Well I have been working my butt off literally and I have a great attitude about T-Tapping. I am also a real person who has lost a realistic amount of inches. I am not an exercise fanatic, in fact I do not want to exercise but I will T-Tapp because I see and feel results! What has improved in addition to my back pain and breathing? My energy is up, my posture is improved and my shorts and tops are falling off of me! I am feeling a waist again. And people have noticed. One of my friends noticed enough that she asked to borrow the BWO+ DVD. She wanted to see for herself what is different about T-Tapp that has me so excited and chatting about it all the time before she buys another exercise video. She also said she noticed the physical changes in me. Of course I told her this is not another exercise video, it's so much more! I do wish I had lost more inches like the people in the book, but I did not change my diet nor did I add any supplements. I did not even go to a God made/Man made alternate days diet. I just wanted to see what doing T-Tapp would do regardless of dieting. I do eat mostly organic and pastured foods, I make my own bread from scratch including grinding and soaking wheat but I still eat stuff that's not necessary in either quality or quantity. It's not that I didn't want more improvement it's really that I wanted to make one change and stick to it versus making too many changes and giving up. I have been promoting T-Tapp on the Sonlight forums and I keep telling everyone, take baby steps, just one change at a time. Just put on your socks and shoes and press play. Teresa will do the rest. Now 60+ days after starting T-Tapp, the contest is over and I am still T-Tapping and still doing it every other day. Do I still have More to Lose? Absolutely. Do I now believe that a year from now I will still be T-Tapping? Absolutely. Am I a Loser? Absolutely. I have lost inches all over, lost back pain and lost difficulty breathing and in this sense being a Loser with T-Tapp is great. Just put on your socks and shoes and press play and you too can be a Loser with T-Tapp!
I wore a size 28 sixty days ago and now I can fit into a size 26 and squeeze into a size 24.
Chronic Back Pain - I no longer see a chiropractor weekly and I am no longer in so much pain!
Asthma - I no longer have wheezing episodes nor do I have trouble going up too many stairs because I no longer get out of breath.
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LOSSES:
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Bust:
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-2.00
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Waist:
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-2.50
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Abdomen:
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-2.00
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Hips:
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-1.50
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Right
Upper Thigh:
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-0.50
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Right
Lower Thigh:
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-1.00
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Left
Upper Thigh:
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-0.50
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Left
Lower Thigh:
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-1.50
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Right
Calf:
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-0.25
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Left
Calf:
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-0.25
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Right
Upper Arm:
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-0.50
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Left
Upper Arm:
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-0.50
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TOTAL
INCH LOSS:
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-13.00
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